Recent Comments

Archive for October, 2011

Jhonas Enroth continues too impress Sabres fans as he picked up where he left off last year in the Sabres 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Enroth made 29 Saves on 31 Penguins Shots and stopped 12 of 13 shots from the Penguins in the 3rd. Drew Stafford tallied the game winner with less than 12 minutes left in the game with a beautiful wrist shot. The Sabres also got goals from Nathan Gerbe and Luke Adam. James Neal scored his league leading 5th goal in the 2nd Period and Jordan Staal scored as well. Marc-Andre Fleury got the Loss for the Penguins stopping 25 Shots.

The Sabres continue their 4 Game Road Trip on Tuesday Night when they take on the division rivals Montreal Canadiens at 7:30. The Game is on MSG HD and TSN HD. Pregame starts at 7:00

The Washington Capitals thwarted power-play chance after power-play chance by the Pittsburgh Penguins without getting an opportunity of their own before finally yielding a late goal to force overtime.

But when the Capitals finally got a chance on the power play during OT, they made the most of it.

Dennis Wideman collected a feed from Nicklas Backstrom and snapped a shot past Pittsburgh goaltender Brent Johnson at 2:48 of the extra session to give Washington a 3-2 victory Thursday night at Consol Energy Center. It was the Caps’ third consecutive victory to start the season (all in extra time) and it was the eighth straight victory for the Capitals in this city spread across three venues — here, Mellon Arena and at Heinz Field, where Washington won 3-1 in the 2011 Winter Classic.

“It is huge,” Washington defenseman Karl Alzner said of the win over the Caps’ least-favorite team. “It is not a trend that we want to start by keeping on going into overtime, but the fact that we keep coming out on top is huge. This game was an emotional roller coaster. After the first period we weren’t feeling too good, but it was nice that we battled back at the end and hopefully that is a sign of a winning team.”

Pittsburgh dominated this game early and late, but the Capitals, backed by strong goaltending from Tomas Vokoun, kept the game close and then capitalized on their lone power play. James Neal had both goals for the Penguins, who are now 3-0-2 to start the season.

The Penguins outshot the Capitals 41-19, including a 12-3 advantage in the opening period and 18-3 in the third. But Tomas Vokoun, signed during the offseason, did what the Caps brought him in to do — steal games.

“I think we had a good game, came up a little short but overall we played well and we’ve got to keep going,” Neal said.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2011020039&navid=sb:recap

‘Canes spoil Sabres’ home opener with 4-3 win

Scratch the Buffalo Sabres off the list of the NHL’s undefeated teams.

Jeff Skinner’s power-play goal with 1:24 left in regulation lifted the Carolina Hurricanes to a 4-3 victory on Friday night, spoiling the Sabres’ home opener before a full house of 18,690 at the renamed First Niagara Center. The loss leaves just three teams — Detroit, Philadelphia and Washington — with unblemished records.

The Sabres, who beat Anaheim and Los Angeles in Europe last weekend as part of the Compuware NHL Premiere series, outshot Carolina 42-34 — but they allowed the Hurricanes to score twice while shorthanded and gave the ‘Canes a late power play when Thomas Vanek took a tripping penalty for hauling down Tim Gleason in the Carolina zone with exactly two minutes left in regulation.

Skinner, last season’s Calder Trophy winner as the NHL’s top rookie, continued his hot start by one-timing Jussi Jokinen’s pass behind Ryan Miller from the right faceoff dot to break a 3-3 tie just 57 seconds after Drew Stafford had tied the game with a backhander over Cam Ward.

“He made a heck of a pass,” Skinner said after the Hurricanes improved to 2-2-1 with their second straight victory.

Carolina’s special teams have struggled in the early going. But the ‘Canes outscored the Sabres 3-0 on special teams and capitalized on the late man advantage to win the game.

“When you get a power play like that, you’ve got to bear down, and we certainly did,” Ward said. “They had a lot start in Europe, and we knew this was their home opener and they were going to bring their best. They wanted to play a gritty style, and I thought we matched that.”

Sabres coach Lindy Ruff liked his team’s energy and the plethora of offensive chances, but not the sloppy play that led to the first three Carolina goals.

“Some of it was careless. Some of it was lack of focus,” he said of the glut of turnovers. “Some of it was just trying things we didn’t need to try.”

http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2011020047&navid=sb:recap

This Day In Sabres History:

Oct. 15, 1970 Sabres Lose First Ever Home Game to the Montreal Canadiens at the Memorial Auditorium

On This Date 41 Years ago the Sabres hosted the Montreal Canadiens in the Sabres first ever NHL Regular Season Game in Memorial Auditorium History. The Canadiens rolled to a 3-0 victory on this night dominating the younger Sabres teams. 40 years later the Sabres would host the Montreal Canadiens at the HSBC Arena to mark the 40th Anniversary. Sabres would also lose that game 2-1.

After three losses to start the season, the Carolina Hurricanes finally found an opponent they could beat: the defending Stanley Cup champs.
Joni Pitkanen, Anthony Stewart and Jiri Tlusty scored for Carolina, and Cam Ward stopped 26 shots as the Hurricanes beat the Boston Bruins 3-2 Wednesday night for their first win of the season.
Despite getting just one point in their first three games, coach Paul Maurice had continued to stress his approval of the Hurricanes’ overall game. This time, the ‘Canes got the result they wanted.
“You just want it all to come together for 60 minutes,” Maurice said. “I thought our defense played a real hard game tonight. I really liked.”http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2011020036

Adam leads Sabres to 4-2 win over Kings

The culmination of a week-long trip through proved to be the sweetest moment of Buffalo’s European trip.
Saturday night, just moments after taking a 4-2 victory to cop the maximum points on the season-opening weekend at the 2011 Compuware NHL Premiere, the Sabres stood on the ice celebrating with a sold-out crowd in the O2 World Arena, the fans serenading the players — especially German defenseman Christian Ehrhoff and Austrian forward Thomas Vanek, who had two assists — before they left the ice.
Asked if they would take the unique victory celebration home, Vanek laughed.
“Maybe that and the German beer, too,” Vanek said, drawing a laugh from the German media. “I think it’s something that the European players are used to with their clubs. I think for the rest of our guys, it was a pretty cool thing. I don’t know. We’ll have to see if we keep winning.”http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2011020022

This Day In Sabres History:

October 14, 2008
Thomas Vanek is becoming a penalty-killing specialist for the Buffalo Sabres.
Vanek scored twice, including a shorthanded goal, to help the Sabres beat the New York Islanders, 7-1, yesterday in Uniondale, N.Y.
“That was my first shorthanded goal at any level of hockey,” Vanek said. “It was good.”
Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff said he made a deal with Vanek before the season started.
“I told him if he worked hard and kept his legs moving, he would see penalty-killing time,” Ruff said. “My goal is to make him the best
two-way player in hockey, and he has the potential to do that.”

Sabres Rookie Center Luke Adam was given an opportunity to show the Sabres that he shouldn’t go back to Rochester any time soon. Adam scored twice this afternoon to lead the Sabres to a 4-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings. Adam 2 goals in the 2nd Period in a 2:20 span gave the Sabres a 2-0 lead. Paul Gaustad would increase the lead to 3-0 tipping home a Nathan Gerbe shot with less than 5 minutes left in the 2nd Period. Anze Kopitar would score his first of 2 goals on the afternoon with 39 seconds left in the period. Drew Stafford ended any hopes the Kings might of had for a comeback scoring a Power Play Goal less than 4 minutes into the 3rd. Kopitar would finish up the scoring on a beautiful goal with 4:16 left in the game. Ryan Miller earned his 2nd Win of the season making 31 saves. Kings backup goaltender Jonathan Bernier looked shaky stopping 22 of 26 Sabre Shots.

The Sabres are currently traveling back to Buffalo and will start to prepare for their home opener on Friday Night when they take Eric Staal and the Carolina Hurricanes at 7:30 PM.

Jack Johnson goal with 52 seconds left in Overtime gave the Kings their first win of the season 3-2 over the New York Rangers on Friday. The Kings would hold a 1-0 lead on a marker from Anze Kopitar with 9:09 left in the frame. The Rangers quickly tied the game less than 5 minutes later thanks to Ryan Callahan. The Rangers would take the lead in the 3rd Period Goal from Marian Gaborik with less than 9 minutes left in the game. Mike Richards would tip-in a Brad Richardson pass to tied the game with 4:59 left in Regulation time. The Kings would take advantage of Ryan McDonagh Tripping Penalty that would eventually lead to the Jack Johnson game winner. Jonathan Quick got the win stopping 24 Ranger Shots.

Vanek 2 Power Play Goals Power Sabres to a 4-1 Win over the Ducks:

Thomas Recorded 2 Power Play Goals in the Sabres 4-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks from Hartwell Arena in Helsinki Finland. The Sabres Special Teams had a great day going 2 for 4 on the Power Play and Killing off all 5 Ducks Power Play opportunities. Villie Leino recorded his first goal as a Sabre is his native country in the 1st Period to give the Sabres a 2-0 lead in the 2nd Period. Christian Ehrhoff also recorded his first point as a Sabres on a 2nd Period Power Play Marker by Vanek.

Sabres Defense as a whole had a great night. They held the top line of the Ducks Bobby Ryan, Corey Perry, and Ryan Getzlaf to no points. Ryan Miller was strong stopping 29 of the 30 Ducks shots.

This Day In Sabres History:

Oct. 8, 2010 Derek Roy returns home and scores twice to lead Sabres to a 2-1 win over the Ottawa Senators. Roy was all the offense for the Sabres on this night powering them to a 2-1 lead over the rival Senators. Roy scored a Power Play Goal half-way through the 3rd Period which would end up being the game winner. Ryan Miller backstopped the win stopping 25 of 26 shots. The win would be the Sabres first of the season.

Thomas Recorded 2 Power Play Goals in the Sabres 4-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks from Hartwell Arena in Helsinki Finland. The Sabres Special Teams had a great day going 2 for 4 on the Power Play and Killing off all 5 Ducks Power Play opportunities. Villie Leino recorded his first goal as a Sabre is his native country in the 1st Period to give the Sabres a 2-0 lead in the 2nd Period. Christian Ehrhoff also recorded his first point as a Sabres on a 2nd Period Power Play Marker by Vanek.

Sabres Defense as a whole had a great night. They held the top line of the Ducks Bobby Ryan, Corey Perry, and Ryan Getzlaf to no points. Ryan Miller was strong stopping 29 of the 30 Ducks shots.

The Sabres return to action as their European excursion when they play the Los Angeles Kings from Berlin, Germany at 2:00 PM. The Game can be seen on MSG HD and TSN2 HD.

Oct 7, 1986 Sabres Trade Forward Ric Seiling to the Detroit Red Wings for Future Considerations. Seiling was draft by the Sabres in the 1st Round 14th Overall in the 1977 NHL Draft. He played in 664 Career Games with the Sabres recording 376 Points(176 G, 200 A) and 524 Penalty Minutes.

The Sabres final preseason game is this afternoon against Adler Mannheim starting at 1:30. Jhonas Enroth will likely play the full game today. Jochen Hecht will not be in the lineup still suffering from a concussion. Derek Roy may get in the lineup for the final preseason game. Roy has missed the last 3 with a sprained shoulder. The Game can only be heard on WGR 550.